Roni 's Journal

Lily He  We have the same issue. Glad you have set the op time. I'm still on the way to decide where to do the surgery. Don't worry too much (actually me too), after the surgery you will feel great and a new life will wait for you. Pray for you.

Nap Garcia  I read your bio and says you're in Bradenton. That's in FL right? If you don't want to go far, I hear Florida Hospital in Orlando is a reputable heart hospital. There is one member of the Mitral Valve Repair group which I'm a member of in Facebook and one patient raved of their services, but like him, we were mitral valve repair patients, your case might be a little different. At the Home page of Heartvalvesurgery.com there's a link where you can get info on Florida Hospital to get more info. Good luck!

Bill Hendrickson  Toni,Just read about your situation. I had both avr and mvr valves replaced 1/30/15 at Cleveland Clinic at age 74. In Aug 2015 I was comfortable walking 14000 steps all over Seattle WA. ,many steps and hills. My surgical experience was that I had very little pain after 4 days but because of a lot of blood loss it took many weeks to regain normal strength. I was fortunate that I always enjoyed life,never experienced a down day and never had memory loss or reduced capacity to work on complicated technical problems. At present I feel great with lots of energy.
Hope you have a positive journey with minimum problems.

Tina Maroon  Bill that is amazing. I wished I had that kind of recovery and that kind of energy. I have very little energy again a year and 2 months after Aortic Aneurysm surgery. I felt good for about 5 months afterward. But then that was it.

Corey Sines  I have read up on TAVR, it seems most of the manufacturers are looking at a 5 year window of life for their studies. However, they should last longer than that as they are similar to stinted porcine/bovine valves. Probably a little less life on average than a traditional OHS Porcine/Bovine valve, but 10-12 years wouldn't be out of the question statically speaking. Also, there are limits to how many times they can repeat the TAVR procedure as they don't remove the old valve just balloon it in over the old valve. Might want to speak to the doctor about those risks based on your age and life expectancy.

Catie B  Roni, I've wondered that myself about the longevity of TAVRS. But I don't think they have as much data about their performance as about other valves, since the technology is newer.

Roni Reinhold  I have an appointment with my surgeon tomorrow afternoon to review my latest
catscan and discuss the risks of OHS VS THE TAVR. At my last visit he told me the TAVR fails in 5-7 years. But there are also some concerns about my kidneys with OHS. I believe he will be sending me for a TEE next. His prognosis if I don't have one of the procedures is 2 years. So needless to say I will have one of the procedures but still very nervous about which one to choose.

Meredith Bray  If you are looking for a second opinion, may I suggest Dr. Joshua Rovin at Cardiac Surgical Associates in Clearwater. He's on the Valve Replacement Team at Morton Plant. He & I talked for about an hour regarding my surgery. I had OHS to implant an On-X aortic valve. He's a good guy.

Roni Reinhold  Spoke to my surgeon. if I choose OHS he can't due it due to calcification. Data shows 50-60% of the TAVR's fail after 5-6 years. I had a mitral valve replacement in 2001 and don't want to go through this again in 5-6 years, so I've chose to go OHS. The doctor suggested I look into Orlando or Texas for OHS. He feels that's where they specialize in the surgery I need. I'm looking for some feed back from anyone who went to these hospitals.

Lori Phillips  Oh... not me but there's a Jason Jeremy here from Trinidad. Just updated his story about an hour ago. His story seems familiar to yours. Good luck! 💕

Steven A Husted  I KNOW THERE ARE OTHERS HERE ON THIS SITE IF YOU JUST READ A FEW A DAY YOU WILL FIND SOMEONE I KNOW TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS

Clare Auten  Welcome to the website. I only have one valve but I think Kate Watson and Rita Save is have two. Try searching for them.

Kate Watson  Hi Roni, yes Clare is right I am recovering from double valve surgery and I'm still alive! I am about 2 1/2 months post op. This was my second surgery too- I had my aortic replaced with a tissue valve in 2005 but it failed this year. I also had rheumatic disease, so my mitral valve was also damaged but didn't need replacement until this year. So I had both valves replaced in April with On-x Mechanical valves. Will you need your mitral valve replaced again at the same time or just aortic? Are you going with tissue or mechanical? Do you have a surgery date yet? I know it's a really scary time. I'd just be sure you feel really good about your surgeon. I talked to several before I found the one who I felt most confident in and who had done many valve surgeries, including double valve replacements and re-repairs. Feel free to ask me any specific questions :)

Rita Savelis  I had triple valve surgery last year (2 valves replaced, one repair) with an unexpected pacemaker thrown in as well 10 days after OHS. My heart was damaged because of radiation for cancer treatment when I was an adolescent. I'm sorry that you have to have surgery again, but I'm sure whoever does your surgery will have experience with double valves. Take care.

Meredith Bray  I have only (only! hah!) had a mechanical aortic valve put in, but I HIGHLY recommend the valve clinic at Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater! Cardiac Surgical Associates, Drs Rovin , Chapa, Ofenloch etc are AMAZING, as is the hospital care at Morgan Heart Hospital.

Roni Reinhold  Thanks Meredith, I'll speak to my cardiologist about that. He has mentioned he would suggest I go to a heart specialty hospital.